Hyderabad, Mar 28 (IANS): Telangana's department of municipal administration and urban development on Tuesday launched a programme to rejuvenate and develop 50 water bodies in and around Hyderabad.
Minister for municipal administration and urban development K.T. Rama Rao inaugurated the 'Lakes Development Programme' at Khajaguda Lake.
Of the 50 lakes, 25 are in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits and the remaining 25 in Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) limits.
Minister KTR handed over MoU certificates to real estate development companies which have adopted lakes for development. With a call to action, he urged them to carry out the development process to world-class standards.
He said that the periphery of the lakes will have walking tracks, landscaping, open gyms, benches, toilets, lights for evening walks, play area for children, gazebos, amphitheater and other facilities.
KTR said that Durgam Cheruvu turned into a huge tourist attraction after the lake was developed, and added that there would be more such head turners.
He said that the idea of developing the lakes was conceived when the state government wanted to create spaces for senior citizens to take walks, for people to come with their children and other family members and spend time in leisure.
The minister spoke about the rapid growth in Hyderabad in the past eight years in IT, life sciences and other sectors and the world class infrastructure created here. "Hyderabadis are owning up, drawing pride from development on all fronts. We have just begun our journey. There are many plans," said minister KTR.
Giving a sneak peek into a few of the plans for Hyderabad, the Minister said that in future, Hyderabad will have at least 250 kms of Metro line in and around the city and all the buses in Hyderabad will be electric.
Stating that no other city in India has the future and potential that Hyderabad has, KTR added that plans are afoot for the expansion of medical devices park, another world class film city, an international-standard sports city, and an academic city.